CTA’s Kiss ‘n Ride parking garage at the Cumberland Blue Line station is covered in pigeon droppings. The CTA has ordered the company that runs the garage to clean it up and install devices to keep pigeons away. (Credit: CBS)

CHICAGO (CBS) — The CTA has ordered the company that runs the “Kiss n’ Ride” parking garage at the Cumberland Blue Line stop to clean the place up. The place is overrun by pigeons and some fear it may become a health hazard.

CBS2’s Mike Parker reports, pigeons are everywhere at the parking garage for the Cumberland stop – lurking on every floor of the huge garage. They’re birds of a feather, all right, and wreaking havoc with some pretty fancy car exteriors.

“There are pigeon droppings, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were bats up there as well,” said garage user Mark Gelula.

CBS 2 found no bats at the garage, only pigeons and mounds of droppings all over – some of them two to three inches deep.

Professional bird chaser Joe Seid toured the garage and said, “Maybe it’s cleaned occasionally, but it appears it’s not cleaned very frequently.”

Seid said he’s concerned about the health danger, not the paint jobs of the cars.

“If the droppings get airborne and you breathe it in, it could take a long time to take effect but it can be deadly,” he said.

Late Tuesday, after CBS 2 called to report what we found, the CTA ordered Central Parking Services to take action.

The company, which manages and maintains the garage was told to install measures designed to prevent roosting. The transit agency also ordered that the “area be thoroughly cleaned”, and that “efforts will be monitored and evaluated for effectiveness.”

According to the CTA, “the safety, security and well being of our customers and employees” is a top priority. Looks like a job for the experts!

Original by CBS 2 Producer Ed Marshall.

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CHICAGO (CBS) — Commuters are calling it everything from cute to disgusting – dozens of pigeons warming themselves under the heating lamps at Loop ‘L’ stops.

As WBBM Newsradio’s Steve Miller reports, pigeons have crowded into the heat lamp stalls on the platforms to the point where there is no place for humans left to stand.

“It’s like we’re being supplanted by the pigeons,” one woman said.

Most people politely let the pigeons have the space, but that may have something to do with all the pigeon poop on the platform under the heaters.

“It’s kind of funny,” the commuter said. “It’s also so dirty that people don’t even dare, trying to make their own way and get some space for themselves.”

The commuter was giving the pigeons a wide berth, noting the smell.

“I think it’s cute and disgusting at the same time.”

The Chicago Transit Authority says it has only gotten two complaints about pigeons this winter. But one man waiting for an ‘L’ train was quite unhappy.

“It’s disgusting that these birds are and the city is not doing anything about it,” he said. Pigeon droppings are known to carry a host of viruses and cause health problems.

Have a Pigeon Problem?

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products eight years in a row.

Network Rail paid out £28,000 after a passenger ‘possibly slipped’ on pigeon poo at Paddington station. Details of the incident at the west London station – in which the victim hurt their leg – were revealed in response to a Freedom of Information request by the BBC.

A total of more than £950,000 was paid out by Network Rail for 290 claims over the past five years for slips, trips and falls resulting in compensation claims at the 20 stations it manages in England and Scotland.

In some instances this included money towards claimants’ legal costs.

The largest single payout was £40,000 after a passenger ‘slipped on some liquid and landed heavily on their right hip’ at London Charing Cross.

Network Rail’s head of claims and insurance, Philip Thrower, said: ‘We’re a big company that takes our responsibilities seriously. With tens of millions of people using our stations every day; only a tiny fraction of a percent experience a mishap. Horse waits for train on South Shields metro platform

‘If we are at fault for causing damage or injury to anyone, we rightly compensate them for those accidents and put in place new ways of working to stop them from happening again.’

Other accidents which led to successful compensation claims include:

A passenger slipped on an uneven surface while walking towards a train at Euston (£17,000);

A large puddle of water caused a passenger to slip while crossing a bridge at Leeds station (£10,000);

A passenger slipped on ‘discarded tomato sauce’ on the concourse at London Liverpool Street, hurting their wrist and both knees (£6,000).

Victoria station in London was the location for the most successful claims, with 44. This was followed by London Waterloo and Leeds (both 32), Euston (27) and Liverpool Street (24). The lowest amount paid was £10 after a passenger suffered ‘personal injury and damage/messing to suit’ when they slipped on ice at an entrance to Victoria.

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products eight years in a row.

Elderly tenants of a Penticton apartment building may be at risk of contracting a fatal disease due to “large accumulations” of pigeon poop in the ceiling above a fourth-floor hallway, according a public health inspector.

The warning is contained in a July 19 letter from Interior Health to the manager of King’s Court at 66 Duncan Ave. West.

Signed by environmental health officer Stephanie Carver, the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Penticton Herald, outlines findings of a July 15 inspection of the 52-unit building.

“We observed large accumulations of pigeon guano in the ceiling tiles above the fourth floor east-west hallway. The accumulation of guano was dry, indicating accumulation has occurred over time,” Carver wrote.

“A substantial amount fell out when one ceiling tile was lifted up and it was evident the hallway ceiling tiles are full of guano and other roosting material. There were also visible signs of waste dripping down the sides of the ceiling into the hallway above residents’ doors.”

Carver goes on to note pigeon poop carries diseases such as cryptococcosis, histoplasmosis, candidiasis and encephalitis, “which can be fatal to the elderly population.”

“The amount of guano that was observed is quite significant and is considered a health hazard. Our biological concerns at this point are the many disease that are found in guano that can easily spread to the occupants as well as the amount of flies that are being attracted to the area,” she added.

Despite that warning, Interior Health gave the building owner 1-1/2 months to clean up the mess.

“The guano is not in the apartment living spaces and does not currently present an imminent health risk. It will require a fair bit of work to address the issues which have built up over time, so we have given the property owner until Sept. 3 to fix the problem,” Jennifer Jacobsen, interim manager for environmental management, said in a statement.

“If it is not addressed by that time, IH can and will take additional steps, including an order under the Public Health Act and potential violation tickets. From a public health perspective, this is a problem that does need to be fixed.”

A fourth-floor resident who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals told The Herald he’s been complaining about the problem for years to the building owner, Sandy Creek Properties, but to no avail.

“They just refuse to deal with anything,” he said.

But after finding a maggot in the hallway outside his door about a month ago, the man redoubled his efforts and contacted various outside agencies, including Interior Health, the Residential Tenancy Branch and the City of Penticton.

“I’m not worried about the live birds,” he said. “I’m worried about the dead birds — that’s where the maggot came from.”

During a visit Monday, a reporter could hear what sounded like pigeons cooing and scratching in the hallway ceiling just outside the man’s door.

Sandy Creek Properties administrator Trina Murray said the company is aware of the problem and the cleanup will begin soon.

“We’ve actually had that contract out for quite some time, and I believe (the work) is starting next week,” she said in a telephone interview Monday.

Murray said she’s been with the company for a year, but wasn’t aware of previous complaints about the issue. She was also unsure if tenants will be moved out during the cleanup.

“I know there will be a process. If they need to be moved, they will be moved,” said Murray.

Have a Pigeon Problem?

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

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While the droppings are messy enough, the birds also put customer safety at risk. TransLink says they trigger track intrusion alarms, which can cause the driverless trains to brake automatically, leading to customer falls and service delays. Not to mention the smell and the various health hazards associated with bird droppings.

So TransLink and the BC SPCA have come up with a solution to help reduce the pigeon population at the VCC-Clark SkyTrain Station — birth control.

As part of a pilot project to control the population, an automatic bird feeder will be dispensing OvoControl.

(OvoControl feeder)

TransLink says it is a non-toxic, effective and humane contraception used in other cities to prevent pigeon reproduction and reduce populations naturally.

TransLink has already put up nets at stations, set up spikes and strips to deter them from roosting and hired a falconer to patrol stations with the most pigeons.

The move to provide birth control is being supported by wildlife and animal groups.

“Wildlife Rescue strives to reduce human-wildlife conflict in the urban environment and rehabilitates injured and orphaned wildlife,” Linda Bakker, co-executive director of the B.C. Wildlife Rescue Association said in a release.

“This project aims to humanely reduce the number of pigeons at areas that have a lot of potential casualties and injuries in pigeons. This project will reduce the number of injured, deceased and orphaned pigeons in these areas. Wildlife Rescue supports the BC SPCA in promoting humane wildlife management practices.”

The BC SPCA says with fewer new pigeons born, the population around the SkyTrain stations will be naturally reduced and fewer operational issues will result.

“OvoControl has been approved for use by Health Canada and only has contraceptive effects in birds,” Dr. Sara Dubois, chief scientific officer with the BC SPCA, said in a release.

“Pigeons must eat their daily dose (5g/bird) for the contraceptive to work, and it is designed to be fed in a manner to maximize pigeon feeding behaviour. We are happy TransLink is ready to partner with us and research what could be a very effective and humane long-term solution.”

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At first, Sebastopol area resident Nancy Martin and her husband did not know what to make of the frequent booming bird noises they suddenly started hearing in mid-August.

Neither did their neighbors.

“We were walking around the neighborhood and we’d run into people, and they’d say, ‘What’s that noise we’re hearing?’ ” Martin said. “And we would say, ‘I don’t know, maybe hunting.’ ”

But the sounds were going off at very frequent intervals — sometimes as much as 20 per minute — and could last for 13 hours a day, Martin estimated. So hunting-related gunshots didn’t sound quite right.

Then a neighbor emailed with the most likely answer: bird cannons. Vineyards employ the noise-making devices powered by propane to scare away birds that may seek to prey on their valuable crop as harvest approaches.

The use of bird cannons is nothing new, particularly in agriculture-heavy Sonoma County, but Martin, who said she has lived in her neighborhood for 30 years, could not recall ever hearing them before.

“Sometimes, it would be back to back: you’d hear ‘boom’ and then another ‘boom’ right away,” Martin said. “My dog seriously was just shaking.”

Concerns expressed by Martin and several other residents in west Sonoma County highlight a familiar tension in agricultural areas: Growers, empowered by the county’s right-to-farm ordinance, are entitled to protect their crops, but local residents sometimes feel farming disruptions interfere with their quality of life.

John Balletto, owner of Balletto Vineyards and Winery in the Russian River Valley, said his vineyard has not used bird cannons this year because it has not felt very dramatic “bird pressure.” But he knows how bad it can get in other years: Balletto recalled one instance some 15 years ago when he had a 2-acre block of pinot grigio “picked clean” by waxwings.

The damage can add up quickly. A typical vineyard in Sonoma County yields about 3 tons of grapes per acre, or a crop valued at about $7,650 per acre at last year’s average price, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Balletto acknowledged that complaints from neighbors can arise, and he recommended taking an equally neighborly approach to resolving those conflicts.

“If you have a neighbor that has some concerns, just go have a conversation with that person,” Balletto said. “We’re still able to farm and do stuff, but it’s also important to try to have good neighbor relations.”

Cannons are not the only tool vineyards have at their disposal to defend against birds like starlings and waxwings. One popular option is bird netting, which growers can place over their crops to shield them from winged pests, but that can be a costly and labor-intensive route to take. Balletto said his vineyard is using bird alarms, which emit noises of predatory birds, and has found them to be more effective than cannons so far.

With Wine Country’s harvest season gearing up, Lisa Correia, Sonoma County’s assistant agricultural commissioner, said last week that her office had yet to receive any complaints about bird cannons. But she said the commissioner’s office generally works closely with residents and businesses to resolve such issues.

“If somebody isn’t using (bird cannons) properly, then we can usually talk to the grower and get them maybe better educated or informed,” Correia said. “That usually helps create less of a chance of a nuisance being created.”

Solano County officials last year passed an ordinance regulating use of noise-making devices such as bird cannons for agricultural purposes. The ordinance spells out a number of requirements for the devices, including that they cannot be used more than 11 times per hour from 30 minutes after sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset.

Additionally, the ordinance allows for no more than one noise-making device for every 5 acres of land with crops needing protection from damage by birds or other wildlife. Devices within 50 feet of the property line need to be relocated at least 200 feet every four days, and they can’t be directed at residences closer than 400 yards away without rotating automatically and erecting a “sound baffle” between the residence and the device.

While Sonoma County does not have such an ordinance for noise-making devices, it does have recommended guidelines for propane cannons. A copy of the guidelines provided by Correia warns cannons “can and will annoy nearby residents and domestic animals,” and that if a field is surrounded by houses or has a “sensitive neighbor,” cannons may not be a wise choice, pointing to netting, falconry and “general harassment” as other options.

The guidelines further note that birds can rapidly adjust to the noise of cannons and recommend ways that growers should position cannons to maximize their effectiveness. The guidelines also say growers can mitigate noise by putting a plywood backstop behind cannons; warn growers not to use them before sunrise or after sunset; and suggest that the location of cannons be changed frequently and the interval between discharges vary.

Correia said the guidelines have been around for many years, in which time complaints about noise devices at harvest time have declined.

“Frankly, they’ve become a little less relevant because we don’t get as many calls these days,” Correia said. “It’s become less of an issue.”

The same may not be true for Napa County this year. Greg Clark, Napa County’s agricultural commissioner, said his office had heard more complaints about bird cannons than in the past few years, but he was not sure why. Clark said his county does not have a specific ordinance or written guidelines about bird cannons.

Clark said Napa, like Sonoma County, generally takes an educational approach to resolving disputes. That may mean, for instance, informing growers their cannons are firing too often.

Clark said he did not want to minimize the impact birds can have on crops, recalling one instance when a grower’s cannon was firing about every 20 seconds.

“While we stood there and talked, he would see the starlings flying around, and this person would say, ‘See the birds?’ ” Clark said. “You could have that thing firing off every second and the birds would still be there. They’ve gotten used to it.”

Still, Clark said some neighbors also may not fully appreciate what it means to move into an agricultural area, where disruptions, to a certain extent, come with the territory.

Balletto made a similar point.

“At the end of the day, there might be times when we disagree on things,” he said. “But if we don’t bring a crop in, nothing’s sustainable.”

About Pigeon Patrol:

Pigeon Patrol Products & Services is the leading manufacturer and distributor of bird deterrent (control) products in Canada. Pigeon Patrol products have solved pest bird problems in industrial, commercial, and residential settings since 2000, by using safe and humane bird deterrents with only bird and animal friendly solutions. At Pigeon Patrol, we manufacture and offer a variety of bird deterrents, ranging from Ultra-flex Bird Spikes with UV protection, Bird Netting, 4-S Gel and the best Ultrasonic and audible sound devices on the market today.

Voted Best Canadian wholesaler for Bird Deterrent products four years in a row.